Charly Catalogue

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Bobby Womack

One of the last surviving links to the pre-Soul/R&B era, singer, writer and guitarist Bobby Womack - who was originally discovered as a teenager singing Gospel music by the late Sam Cooke - died on 27 June aged seventy. Blessed with one of the warmest, most readily-identifiable voices in Soul music, he carved out his reputation with a series of classic albums and singles in the early 70s, re-emerging again in the 80s with his career masterpieces, The Poet and The Poet II, the latter achieving platinum status in Europe alone. Yet for a large part of his six decades-spanning career, he was better known as a songwriter and session musician. It was he who gave The Rolling Stones their first No.1 hit with 'It's All Over Now', a song first recorded by his band The Valentinos, and his funky guitar flourishes have graced records by Ray Charles, Dusty Springfield and Elvis Presley.

Despite well-documented personal battles with substance abuse, Womack enjoyed a long, rich career, retaining a strong cult status in the UK and Europe. In the late 1990s, his music was introduced to a new generation when film maker Quentin Tarantino reprised 'Across 110th Street' (from the 1972 movie of the same name) as the title track for his own Blaxploitation homage, Jackie Brown. Womack continued to record and tour sporadically and, after battling ill-health in recent years, his first studio album in more than a decade, the aptly titled The Bravest Man In The Universe - co-produced by Damon Albarn and Richard Russell, who also produced Gil Scott Heron’s final album - was released in June 2012 to critical acclaim. Described by Womack as a "labor of love", his forthcoming album The Best Is Yet To Come - featuring Rod Stewart, Snoop Dogg and and Stevie Wonder - is set for posthumous release later in 2014.

Of his experience of working with Albarn and career resurgence, Womack stated, "I was ostracised from the music community aged 21 when I married Sam Cooke's widow... after 45 years, I feel like Damon has welcomed me back in." On learning of his friend's death, Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood paid this tribute, "the man who could make you cry when he sang has brought tears to my eyes with his passing."